A Drarry Story
by SlytherCub
Summary: After returning to Hogwarts for eighth year, both Harry and Draco are haunted by the school for different reasons. Will they be able to put their differences aside and help each other through it?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys :') This is the first chapter of my first fic on this website! Give me some comments/reviews and if you like it I'll put another chapter up :3**  
** I really hope you like it, if you do, please review- it makes it so much more worthwhile to know people are reading. Thanks! Have a great day :)  
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**Chapter 1- The Hogwarts Express  
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Harry's decision to return to Hogwarts for eighth year had been one of the hardest he'd made all summer. Laying low had been his main priority- the tragedies of the Battle were still fresh in people's minds and he hadn't particularly wanted to add to that by recounting the events to the press. Everyone knew what had happened, who had fought, who had died, so the Daily Prophet could bloody well wait until Harry was ready.

All in all, his main problem with returning had been whether he could face the constant physical reminder of the Battle, every day having to walk down a corridor where a friend had died, or eat in the Great Hall where so much blood had been shed. But he also hadn't been able to face the thought of leaving Hogwarts, his first true home with the last remaining memory of it being a scene of utter devastation.

And so, as he dragged his trunk along behind him and backed into his usual compartment on the Hogwarts Express, he tried to think of nothing but the happy memories he had shared with Ron and Hermione, nothing that would bring him pain to remember.

"Potter." Harry closed his eyes. Though the voice sounded disbelieving rather than malicious, it could only belong to one person.

"Malfoy" he said, turning on his heel, then standing stock still as he took in the other boy's appearance. He was so thin. And there were heavy bags under his eyes as though he hadn't slept since the Battle. As he met Malfoy's incredulous gaze, his slate-grey eyes somehow appeared darker as well.

"Malfoy…you look-"

"Like shit, I know" he said, turning away from Harry's stare and looking out at the platform, and Harry sat down hastily across from him. "I hadn't expected you to be returning" he said, so quietly Harry wondered whether he had been meant to hear.

Harry bristled at this. "My return's nothing next to yours, Malfoy; I'm surprised you even thought of coming back." Even though Harry knew he was right to say it, the heavy silence that followed made him shift uncomfortably in his seat, and Malfoy sighed.

"I know" he said, picking at a loose thread on the seat beside him. "I hadn't thought it would go without argument, from yourself and many others, but I need my N.E.W.T's and there doesn't seem to be much of another option." Harry continued to stare at Malfoy. He didn't know what he meant by being here, not just Hogwarts (though surely there were other options available), but on this end of the train. Maybe he was being stupid, but he and his friends had always seemed to share the same compartment, Malfoy only encroaching to taunt and throw hexes. Perhaps he had forgotten. Harry wouldn't usually have taken this long to remind him, but he didn't know what had happened to anyone after the Battle, least of all Malfoy. He wanted to find out what he was really up to. Not knowing what to say, Harry cleared his throat and sat forward.

"Wondering why I'm in your cosy corner of the train, I suppose?" Malfoy drawled, reading Harry's silence perfectly. If Harry hadn't known him better, he would have thought Malfoy was trying to make conversation. His eyes narrowed at the thought, and when Malfoy looked up and saw his expression, he sighed and moved to stand. "Guess I'll be leaving then."

Rising quickly and sliding open the door of the compartment, Malfoy took one step outside before turning slowly and meeting Harry's eyes. When Harry didn't look away, Malfoy lowered his gaze to the floor of the compartment. His hands were clasping and unclasping in mid-air, this coupled with his obvious lack of sleep and food made him appear almost vulnerable.

"Please don't make the mistake of thinking people can't change, Harry, because they can and they will if they set their minds to it." With that, he turned away quickly, sliding the door shut behind him before making his way back down the corridor. Blinking slowly, Harry sat back and rubbed his scar absent-mindedly, trying to register what Malfoy had said. If he and Malfoy were now on first name basis, things had indeed changed a lot, and it might take him a while to get used to it. Somehow, though, the use of the name "Harry" rather than "Potter" probably shouldn't have been all he'd taken from Malfoy's speech, and Harry frowned to himself.

At that moment, Ron pushed his way through the compartment door, a flustered looking Hermione behind him. 'Sorry about leaving you mate' Ron said as he heaved his trunk up onto the luggage rack. 'Hermione forgot something from Flourish and Blotts, y'know, extra revision and all'. Harry shrugged his shoulders, not really caring but wanting to tell them about his meeting with Malfoy. Fortunately, Hermione provided the perfect opportunity.

'Did you see Malfoy when you got on the train, Harry? He looked…really bad' Harry nodded enthusiastically and dived headfirst into the story while Ron sat down across from him.

'And then he told me that people can change, and he, erm… he called me Harry. Like that's what he does all the time' Hermione and Ron looked at each other at this, Hermione raising her eyebrows slightly while Ron looked verging on furious.

'And he was just sat here waiting for you in our compartment? Like last year never bloody happened? He's got some nerve' Ron said, clenching his fists together in his lap.

'Maybe he'd forgotten?' Hermione suggested. 'He did look very tired…'

'But Hermione, you're forgetting, he mentioned it himself. He said he bet I was wondering why he was down here before he left.'

'He didn't tell you why?' Hermione asked, brows furrowing as they usually did when she was confused or thinking.

'Bloody waste of time if you ask me. If he thinks everything's just forgiven and forgotten after what he did, he's got a reality check coming in the form of my fist, that's all I can say' Ron said, breathing heavily in his obvious hatred for Malfoy.

Harry couldn't help but agree. As the train set off for their last journey to Hogwarts, Harry wondered what Malfoy could have meant by being there, and once again he was struck by how easy it was to get latched on to the other boy's words, to think through what they meant and how he could use them against him. Sighing, Harry tried to focus on his friend's conversation. He had hoped it would be different this year.


	2. Chapter 2

As Draco sat down heavily in an empty compartment near the front of the train, his brain finally seemed to catch up.

"Oh fuck." He mumbled to himself, resting his elbows on his knees and putting his head in his hands. What had he done? He should have just gone to his usual compartment as soon as he got on the train- quelled his curiosity as it appeared. But instead, he'd decided to just pop along over to the compartment at the end of the train which always seemed to be specially reserved for 'The Golden Trio' as the bloody prophet had started referring to them after the Battle, and made himself at home in there.

He'd known at the back of his mind he was waiting for Potter, it seemed no one had managed to gain any interviews with him through the summer and he'd wanted to know if the Gryffindor was coping as badly as he was. The longer he'd sat there waiting, the more anxious he had become. What if Potter wasn't returning this year? What if he'd gone into hiding after the Battle? And why the bloody hell was he so het up about it anyway? If Potter had decided to leave, it might have been far less embarrassing for himself, and Slytherin's kind of had a reputation for wanting to save their own hides.

But, as bad luck would have it, Potter had made his ungainly way into the compartment just as he was considering getting off the train and giving up on the whole concept of returning for another year. It was stupid really. He knew he could easily get into another wizarding school, but as much as Draco disliked forming attachments, Hogwarts was a kind of second home to him. And so, when Potter had realized he was there and promptly turned to comment on how much of a mess he looked, Draco had brushed it off. This was a new year. If he was going to turn things around, he'd have to start early, as he's been reminding himself all summer.

After seeing the state he was in, Potter had at least tried to accept his presence, though he hadn't said much. Draco couldn't blame him really. It would take a long time for people to get used to the idea that he has changed- and he actually wants to work towards the good side now. When he had looked up, Potter had been giving him one of those suspicious glares, as if he was trying to achieve Legilimency, so he had left. But not before doing the most stupid thing it had been possible for him to do in that situation, and at such early stages as well. He had said he'd changed- as though trying to force the other boy to believe it, and he'd called him Harry. HARRY. He'd never called him Harry in his life.

Draco groaned and rubbed at his eyes, his knees growing sore where his elbows were digging into them, but he couldn't really bring himself to care. At that moment, there was a racket in the corridor outside and the compartment door was flung open.

"I swear Draco, if one more of those little Hufflepuff brats gets in my way I'm going to-" Pansy's voice cut off as she took in Draco's position, his head still in his hands as he sat leant forward.

"Draco? What's wrong sweetie?" she said, discarding her luggage by the door and hurrying to his side. However much Draco wanted to be alone right now, he couldn't help but feel a bit happier with Pansy there. They had been pretty much inseparable over the summer, what with all the deaths in the Battle and his father being sent to Azkaban, Draco had definitely needed her by his side. Pansy always seemed to know how to soothe him, calm him down.

"You're not going to believe it Pans" Draco mumbled, his long fingers kneading at his temples in frustration.

"I think I'll believe just about anything nowadays hun" Pansy said, rubbing his back in a calming gesture while spelling her trunk onto the luggage rack and rolling the blinds down over the compartment windows.

When Draco didn't say anything further, she wriggled closer to his side, pushing her fingers through his hair in a gentle caress as she knew he liked. She had been giving out multiple head massages over the holidays but she didn't really mind. If it calmed Draco down, then it wasn't really much to ask.

Feeling her gentle coaxing, Draco sighed and sat up a little straighter, rubbing at his eyes.

"I went and bloody waited for Potter didn't I?"

"What?" Pansy said, frowning, her fingers stilling in their actions. At a slight turn of the head from Draco, she carried on quickly.

"I sat and waited for him in his compartment at the end of the train, half of me thinking he wasn't even going to bother turning up."

Pansy sighed. She could tell this was going to be a long story- they'd probably end up talking about it till they reached Hogwarts, so she settled closer in her seat, nuzzling affectionately into his shoulder.

"Tell me all about it."

….

By the time Draco had finished, the usual racket of luggage being pulled down from their racks and people hurrying to get changed was going on outside, but he seemed not to notice.

"I called him Harry, Pansy. _Harry._" He said, as if repeating the words would add to their affect.

"Draco, we've just been over this five times, there's nothing you can do to change it now. At least you've got the point across- that you have actually changed.*

In a most Un- Malfoyish gesture, Draco snorted.

"Right. Like he's going to believe me."

"Well even if he doesn't Draco, you've got plenty of time to prove yourself, and now none of us have the war hanging over our heads. We've all changed, Draco, Potter's going to have to learn to accept that. Now come on, we need to get changed or we won't get to dinner in time."

Sighing, Draco stood up and pulled his trunk down from above him. As he searched inside for his robes, it occurred to him just how much Pansy had been there for him- not just since the Battle, but the whole time he'd been at Hogwarts. Sure, for the first few years maybe she'd just been lusting after him and would do anything for a bit of attention, but as they'd grown closer, Draco had come to appreciate her friendship more than anything else.

Turning suddenly, Draco pulled Pansy towards him in a tight hug.

"Thanks Pansy. Thanks for everything."

Pansy smiled at him bemusedly as he let go of her, taken by surprise. Although they'd grown closer after the Battle, Draco didn't usually show his affection all that well.

"It's fine you soppy git. Now get changed before I hex your balls off."


	3. Chapter 3

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When the train finally pulled up at the station in Hogsmeade, Harry wanted nothing more than to leave the others behind and go up to the Gryffindor dorms to bed. Just until he got his head sorted out.

Ron and Hermione had tried their best to distract him, after all the years they'd spent together they knew better than anyone when Harry was just keeping up the pretences of being involved in a conversation.

He had tried to listen, really he had, but the meeting with Malfoy before setting off had been looming at the forefront of his mind the whole time, blocking out what his friends were saying.

'People can change'. Had he been saying he had changed, or was willing to change? Had he merely been trying to fit in for the new year? No. If he had wanted to fit in, Harry would be the last person he would go to.

_'Please_don't make the mistake'. For once in his life, Malfoy had asked Harry, instead of telling him. Did that mean that Malfoy was letting Harry decide for himself whether Draco had changed, or just that he wanted Harry to believe he had?

'_Harry'_

Every time he had tried to catch a snippet of his friends' conversation, one of Malfoy's words would jump out at him, and he'd spend the next ten minutes trying to get his head around it.

The boy had called him by his first name, and Harry knew it was for a reason, he just didn't know why. Or perhaps he was just denying the reason to himself, wanting to sit and torture himself over it just to give him something to do.

After the Battle was over, Harry had pretty much gone into hiding straight away. He hadn't wanted the fuss of the wizarding world at large or the new titles his killing of Voldemort might bring to him. He hadn't wanted any of that. Everyone who had fought in that Battle, his classmates, his teachers, the Order, Hagrid, everyone had played an equal part in the downfall of the dark lord.

So he, Ron and Hermione had done most of the work with destroying the Horcruxes and through that bringing Voldemort down piece by piece. But Harry had never been one for attention-seeking, what with his childhood being completely denied of it, the change when he was introduced to the wizarding world as a hero had been astounding. He was just a boy. He didn't count himself as any more of a hero than anyone else had been through that Battle. Neville had destroyed Nagini for Merlin's sake; if he hadn't done that there would have been no chance of Harry destroying Voldemort completely.

All in all, when he looked at it soberly, he had wanted to escape the horde of attention he was sure to receive when people fully realized what had happened. And ever since the Battle, he'd been donating to foundations and charities set up to rebuild people's homes and other such things, but he hadn't able to do much physical work.

He was bored. There was no longer a challenge, something for him to work toward. That had been the only real reason he'd returned for eighth year- something positive to do. The Ministry probably would have let him join Auror training right away, considering Voldemort's downfall, but, if Harry was being honest with himself, he hadn't been quite ready to leave his adolescence and real home in Hogwarts behind.

And now that he was finally back where he belonged, ready to start focusing on his education and N.E.W.T's, Draco Malfoy had once again stepped in to change everything around. Now Harry could do nothing but muddle over in his mind what the other boy had been saying.

'Harry! Have you been listening to me at all?'

Harry's head snapped round to take in Hermione's reproving expression, arms folded over her chest and eyes glowering. Harry sighed.

'Sorry, Hermione, my mind's just a bit muddled at the moment.' He said, thinking of how if Luna were here with them she'd have mentioned something to do with nargles and smiling.

'Well you can stop grinning, Harry. You haven't being paying any attention to us the whole way here!' Hermione said, standing up to make her way out into the corridor of the train, and Harry and Ron followed. Sighing, Harry thought it best to let it simmer and not say anything more.

Both his best friends had been a little edgy around him for a few weeks now, Harry only having had brief Floo conversations with them and talking through owl after the defeat of Voldemort. In all honesty, he had wanted to talk to them, wanted the comfort and warmth of the Burrow and Molly's cooking instead of Kreacher's sniping and the hostile environment of Grimmauld Place, but he hadn't been sure how to reach out. Every time he had grown close to apparating over, a silly thought would flash through his mind.

'Would the rest of the Weasley's blame him for what had happened to Fred?'

'Would they think he was wrong to drag Ron along in the search for the Horcruxes?'

'Would they despise him for multiple things he couldn't control?'

The thoughts were ludicrous, stupid. The Weasley's were the closest thing to family Harry had ever known. He had known this and yet, every time he set his mind to go visit, the thoughts would plague him and drive him back.

Hermione had been the first to act- almost as soon as Harry received his letter informing him of Hogwarts' reopening and an extra year being added, the girl had appeared in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place, face set and sturdy and asked if he was going. When he had shrugged and nodded, the look on Hermione's face had been one of pure relief before she'd flung herself at Harry in a crushing embrace.

When she had insisted they return to the Burrow, Ron had looked nervous at first, but once he realized Harry hadn't had any mental breakdown and didn't need to be rushed to St Mungo's or anything, he quickly offered Harry a butterbeer, a slap on the back and a free pass back to the love and warmth of his home.

Harry had been so happy to be back and realize that no one blamed him for anything, they were just grateful for everything he had done. He had cursed his stupidity for not returning sooner, and smiled and thanked Molly when she offered him a third helping of his favourite treacle tart.

Soon though, Harry had figured he'd have to talk to Ginny. The thought scared him beyond belief and he couldn't fathom why. Thinking Ron might have some good advice, he had gone to him first, only to have his train of thought broke off as his best friend said

'So when are you and Gin getting back together?' and smiling across at Harry.

'Uhh…' Harry had said, a steady heat rising up his neck and onto his face as he fidgeted in his seat.

'I…I don't really know' he had said.

'Well you'd best hurry up, I think she's planning on staging an intervention' Ron laughed, taking a swig of his beer.

'Ron…' Harry had said, getting more flustered by the minute.

'Yeah mate?' Ron had asked, eyed glued to Hermione as she came through the door.

'I'm…I'm not sure if I'm ready for it. Our relationship I mean. I'm not sure if I'm, or-or when I'll…' Harry had trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Ron had sat staring at him for a long moment, and then his eyes had narrowed.

'You thinking of breaking it off mate? Because you know she's waiting for you, right? That she's been waiting for you all this time?'

'I know Ron, I just…I need time to think things through, okay?'

Ron had started to argue that he'd had months holed up at Grimmauld Place to think about it, but Hermione had raised her eyebrows and he gave in.

'Fine.' He had said, eyes drifting to the muggle television in the corner. 'Just sort it out soon, okay? It's not fair on her mate.'

Harry had beet grateful for the conversation's end, but ever since that day things had grown more stilted between himself and his friends, especially Ron, as he continued to ignore Ginny and their relationship. He just didn't know what to do.

Harry sighed as he left the train, and decided he would talk to them tomorrow. Tonight he just needed a good meal and bed. And to stop thinking about bloody Malfoy.


End file.
